Shafilea Ahmed, the teenager whose dismembered body was found on a river bank nearly seven years ago, appealed to be moved out of the family home because she was "scared going back to my parents," a court has heard.

The A-level student made the emergency housing application to social services on February 5, 2003 - seven months before her disappearance - saying she was being beaten at home by her parents, jurors were told.

The contents of the form were revealed for the first time in public by prosecuting barrister Mr Andrew Edis QC, as he cross-examined Shafilea's father Iftikhar Ahmed for the second day at Chester Crown Court.

The 52-year-old taxi driver and his wife Farzana are accused of murdering their daughter at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, on September 11 2003.

They both deny the charges.

At the time of the application, the teenager said she was being "forced into arranged marriage in Pakistan". Shafilea said she was suffering "violence and threats of violence" adding that "since I was 15 or 16 years old, one parent would hold me down while the other hits me."

Shafilea wrote that she was "scared of going back to my parents".

Ahmed said he was not aware of her application at the time and knew no reason for it.

Last week, Mrs Ahmed dramatically changed her defence case claiming her husband began "hitting and slapping" Shafilea on the night she disappeared.

The court heard that Shafilea had run away to Blackburn, Lancashire, for 10 days in January 2003 and, when she came back to Warrington, asked a teacher at school to help her with a rehoming application.

She also tried to apply for income support, the court heard.

She wrote that there had been "a build-up of violence towards me. My mother told me I was about to go to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. Teachers were told I would be absent from school. I would prefer to stay in Warrington", the jury heard.

The court heard that, during the time she had run away, her parents were contacting her friends and ringing her mobile phone in an attempt to find her.

Shafilea sent two texts to her mother, the first read: "I'm safe. I'm okay. Stop ringing people up about me. I'll contact you soon. Bye."

And then she later sent a second which said: "Don't you get it. Stop ringing me. I'll talk when it want," the court heard.

Ahmed denied the reason why his daughter was running away was because he was entering her into a forced marriage in Pakistan.

"You are a liar," said Mr Edis QC. "I am not a liar," he replied.

"You were clipping her wings, weren't you?'" said Mr Edis. "She was complaining of violence, of money begin taken from her, her phone being taken away, and kept at home."

The court heard how, days before the trip to Pakistan, Ahmed asked the doctor for a prescription after suffering headaches, being given prescription drugs that could have side effects of dizziness and disorientation.

Mr Edis said: "The next morning your wife gave Shafilea drugs to make her compliant. She gave her orange juice and drugs."

"It was just a soft drink," Mr Ahmed replied. "She was not drugged and taken to Pakistan."